The Islamic State “kills people because of who they are,” Kerry said in Bangladesh, adding, “it will take a generation or more to solve it, but let me tell you something: We are defeating Daesh and we will defeat Daesh. We will defeat al-Shabaab and Boko Haram, and we are on the road to achieving that now.”

Kerry then echoed remarks made by State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf last February, who declared “we cannot kill our way out of this war” against the Islamic State, blaming Muslim terrorism on “root causes,” such as a “lack of opportunity for jobs.”

“It’s not just the battlefield; it’s the minds. And if we have too many young people who can’t go to school, or too many young people who are frustrated, or they can’t find a job — if we leave those minds out there for extremists to recruit, then it will continue and none of us would be doing our jobs if we allowed that to happen,” he added.